Customer Reviews

Atticus of Rome, 30 B.C. (The Life and Times Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I was very much looking forward to this book, as I am a big fan of Barry Denenberg's books from the Royal Diaries and Dear America series, and I love historical fiction set in the ancient world. However, this book has many problems. It is the story of a young boy, Atticus, who is brought as a slave to Rome after his small village is destroyed by Roman soldiers. His sister and mother die in the attack, and Atticus and his father are separated in slavery. Atticus ends up being purchased by a wealthy and powerful lawyer, who treats him well. Eventually, Atticus becomes a spy for him, trying to find traitors to the Empire. I thought the plot of this book was good. But that's about it. First off, the writing style was terrible. The book was written more like a nonfiction book than a novel for children. I can't imagine kids enjoying the style at all. There is very little dialogue. There are also historical errors. The cover says the story is set in 30 B.C. However, in the book, Atticus says he was born in 82 B.C. This would make Atticus over 50 years old. So obviously, one of the dates was wrong. And neither date fits with the story, as Rome was still a republic until 27 B.C. The story also has some minor plotholes that don't really make sense. I really cannot recommend this book at all, due to its numerous problems. It's too bad it has so many mistakes. If not for the mistakes, I personally would have enjoyed it, although I still don't think it would have had much appeal for young readers. I don't know how the mistakes got past the editor; I suppose the publisher can be blamed for putting the wrong date on the cover.

In a story somewhat similar to "Gladiator", Atticus,a young boy, is sold to a high level Roman politician as a slave after his mother and sister were both killed by Roman soldiers, and his father was separated from him. It turns out that his owner, Master Lucius Opimius, is a spy for the Emperor, on the lookout for any traiters. Opimius eventually makes Atticus a spy himself and unexpectatly one day Atticus hears the plot to assasinate the emperor. Atticus and his Master manage the foil the assasination attempt and at the celebration festeval, Atticus meets the one person he never thought he'd see again, his father.

I'm sad that I have to give only two stars to an author whose books in the Dear America series I have thoroughlly enjoyed. Unfortunately there were just so many things wrong with Attiucs. The plot had tons of holes and the writing style was just so dull. It took me 4 days to read this book when it would usually only take me 1 if it were interesting. I don't see little kids having enough resolve to finish such a dull book that falls flat in the end. There really was no climax and I don't rememeber one time that I felt on the edge of my seat or had any anticipation. There were also other numerous mistakes that the editor should have caught but didn't. The good thing is that the other book in this series, Pandora of Athens, is quite enjoyable and should be read even if you didn't enjoy this book. Overall a big disappointment. After Pandora, I was expecting something way better than this big mess of a book.

Atticus, a young boy, gets taken away by the
Romans to be sold as a slave just like his dad.
He is bought by a powerful Roman politician,
Master Lucius Opimius, who is a spy for the
Emperor. Atticus is favored highly and much more
than all the other slaves. He follows his master
Opimius wherever Opimius goes. One day Master
Opimius tells Atticus to spy on a wealthy man and
tell him what Atticus hears. Atticus succesfully
completes his mission and when the wealthy man
comes to a party Master Opimius and Atticus
overhear the man plotting to assasinate the
Emperor. They tell the Emperor and they prevent
the Emperor from being assasinated. After the
failed assasination attempt, the Emperor invites
Opimius and Atticus to a festival with
Gladiators. Atticus discovers that his father is
about to get killed by a gladiator. Will Atticus
be able to save his dad?
Opinion: I don't think the book was that good because
it wasn't really exciting and there really was no
climax and no close calls. The style the author
wrote the book in was real slow and not very
detailed. The plot was boring and I wasn't very
excited to read this book. I would have liked to
know what happened to Atticus when he grew up.
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It is unfortunate that this book, with such a great premise, executes its "story" rather poorly. Glaring historical inaccuracies (Atticus was born in "82 B.C." - really? How would he have known the year if it was 78 years before Jesus of Nazareth was born, and longer still before the calendar was fixed with Christ's birth as the point seperating "BC" from "AD"? And, still, he's a teenager in 30 B.C.? Again, how?!?), little dialogue, multiple plot holes, and choppy narrative all work to scuttle this story. The rich details of life in those times don't do enough to compensate for the lack of engaging characters, actual conversations, witty banter, or anything of sparkling, "living" substance.

This author has several highly-reviewed works to his credit. However, "Atticus of Rome" probably will not join that pantheon.

Atticus of Rome is about a young boy who gets seperated from his family and sold in the slave market. Bought by Lucius Opimius, Atticus became his favored servant, and so-called spy.

I read this book for school, hoping it had some interesting facts on Rome. I do not think this book is worth reading. It was very boring and had no plot what-so-ever. Every few pages I made excuses to myself to get up and leave to book on my dresser. During the story, you don't feel attached to any of the characters as you would in your favorite novel, and could care less what happened to them. The only reason I had for reading this book was because I got credit for school. I don't see how Atticus played a role in any of the book. I would not recommend Atticus of Rome.

Good Historical Accuracy, Confusing Plot

This book was read in my class as a connection to history. This book does a good job of sharing what an ancient Roman's life would have been like. The book gazes into the life of a Roman slave and a wealthy Roman man, which is quite a contrast. The book goes into deep detail about every aspect of a Roman's life, from a dinner party to the view of an average roman watching the early Olympics. I learned a lot about Roman culture and daily life in Rome. Now, here are the negatives. For me, the book's plot is very jumpy and hard to understand. Also, some parts of the book do not make much sense and I felt they had nothing to do with the rest of the book at all. The book was often confusing; therefore, I had to read a chapter 3-4 times to understand what was going on.

I do not recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting or entertaining book, for it gets rather boring at parts. Also, I do not recommend it to anyone looking for a nice novel to read because the plot is all over the place. But I do recommend it to any teacher looking for a book with good historical facts. Overall, I do not recommend you buy this book unless you are a teacher looking for a book with a historical connection.

Atticus, a young boy of 12 years is captured by Roman soldiers after watching his village burnt to the ground with his mother and sister trapped inside. Both Atticus and his father were shackled, chained and later separated when sold at a slave auction. The young boy was bought by a wealthy Roman aristocrat named Lucius Opimius, who was also the Emperor's closest friend. As Lucius had no sons of his own, he took young Atticus under his wing to teach him the importance of his duty, to protect the Emperor from people plotting against him. Atticus learns the meaning of true allegiance and proves himself worthy of his master's final generosity. This tale is the first of a new series called The Life and Times by the acclaimed author Barry Denenberg. Here, Denenberg brings to life the politics and civilization of ancient Rome. Very violent accounts of the Roman battles and gladiator games should be cautioned for the younger middle school readers.

It was a great book that I really enjoyed, until the end which ruined everything.

A few years ago, Scholastic put out a short-lived hardcover series about the lives of kids in the ancient world, called "The Life and Times." I read "Pandora of Athens," and was unimpressed. But for the hell of it, I decided to check out the first book in the series, called "Atticus of Rome" by Barry Denenberg, mainly because it looked like the kid worked for some Cicero-type lawyer, and I wondered how they would deal with the character.

Well, I read it in a few hours, and I was horrified by the quality of writing. No, seriously. It's been a long time since I've read something that matched this for sheer incoherence. I know Denenberg has written some decent books before, so he really should have known better.

Basically, the big problem of "Atticus" is that there's almost no plot. You've got this kid named Atticus (a Latin name which would imply that he was from Attica, home of Athens, or that he was named after Cicero's pal Atticus, but there's no reason given for his name), who's captured and enslaved by Roman soldiers somewhere in "the northern provinces." He goes to Rome, and is bought by this bigwig named Lucius Opimius, who is a buddy of the Emperor. Now, one of the big problems with the book is there's really no clue to when this is supposed to be set. The cover says it takes place in 30 BC, which, although it's still a few years off, would make more sense; the Emperor would then be Augustus, right? But later in the book Atticus mentions that he's born in 82 BC. (Yes, apparently he knows about the birth of Christ before it happens.) And he's ten or eleven, which means that it should be about 72 or 71 BC, around the time of Spartacus' rebellion. Of course it could still mean it was 30 BC, and Atticus is a vampire... But nothing that interesting happens, unfortunately.

Now, Lucius Opimius buys the immortal Atticus because he's the emperor's spymaster, and he needs an agent. And who better than some random kid off the auction block? Apparently Opimius is such an amazing judge of character that he can immediately tell that Atticus is trustworthy, dependable and super smart. But then, Opimius also bought his wife off the auction block. Yes, he found some buxom slave girl (she's described as being stupid, plain and annoying, with her chest being her only assets), manumitted her and her mother, and proceeded to marry Miss Random in the traditional Roman ceremony. We are assured he did this because he wants kids badly, as his beloved wife just died in childbirth. Well then, the informed reader will ask, why didn't he set up a marriage with some nobleman's daughter, instead of doing something that would have, in real life, made him a social outcast?

Because, dear reader, that would make sense! And that is one thing in short supply in this ridiculous book.

After Atticus is bought by Opimius, the book then grinds to a halt, describing every detail in Opimius's day. Opimius goes to the barbershop. He gets dressed. He meets his clients. He throws a dinner party. He goes on vacation. He goes to the baths. He exercises, gets massaged, and even gets daily hair pluckings-- and all the while we are told how hot Opimius is for a middle-aged guy. For example:

"While Atticus stood by, in case his master required anything, Lucius closed his eyes and succumbed to the kneading, knowing fingers of the masseuse, who poured scented oil from a little pitcher she kept by her side onto Lucius' dark-skinned, muscular body. It was the only time Lucius Opimius truly relaxed. As she worked her magic Master Lucius purred like a kitten.

"As a final touch Lucius, who could not tolerate any body hair on his person whatsoever, had his daily appointment with one of the expert depilators. She investigated every pore of his body to make sure there were no newly emergent hairs just surfacing, and if there were, she removed them forthwith."

As I was reading this, It was hard for me to remember that the person who wrote this was a guy. It sounds like it was written by a slash-writing high school girl who had a huge crush on this character. And let's not forget that Atticus the immortal kid is watching all of this. It reminds me of those hilarious lines from "Airplane": "Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

Anyway, somewhere in all of this, there is a bad guy, who is a big fat perv who kills his slaves and wears makeup, and Atticus spies on him at one point. Big Fat Perv also may be carrying on with Opimius's wife, Miss Random-- which I guess means that you shouldn't pick out your wife in the slave market-- but this isn't developed, as it's dropped as soon as it's introduced. Big Fat Perv is also conspiring against the nameless Emperor, but it doesn't take a lot of effort to stop him. This is how it is described in the book:

"There had been a long-planned and well-concealed conspiracy. The object of the plot was to assassinate the Emperor and take over the government.

"The Emperor had been aware of the plans since their inception and had subtly and secretly prepared for it.

"The attempt failed utterly. The Emperor and his inner circle acted swiftly, surgically and unmercifully."

Big Fat Perv is then torn to pieces by his long suffering slaves, who present the head to the Emperor... presumably forgetting that such an action would have gotten them all crucified. Did I mention Spartacus' rebellion-- that is, the rebellion as seen in the Kirk Douglas movie-- is described in painstaking detail earlier? Since there's such an emphasis on slave punishment, it seems really strange that the author would forget this.

After the death of Big Fat Perv and the exile of Miss Random, Atticus is taken to the games. You have a lot of generic description of arena stuff, before Atticus finds out that ZOMG his dad is a gladiator!!! But at the end, Opimius turns up his thumb and saves his dad's life!

So, yes, Opimius is awesome. Then he's killed. Yes, it's as abrupt as that:

"There had been rumors again, and Lucius wondered if there would ever be a time when Rome was free from her enemies within. He had taken extraordinary precautions, even having all of his food cooked only by his longtime loyal chef. But somehow he was poisoned- the soup was supposed to be laced with lethal leek juice. This was confirmed when his heart failed to burn on the funeral pyre, clearly indicating the use of poison.

"Most believed it was an inside job- Lucius was too vigilant for it to be otherwise. The coincidental disappearance of the physician Cassius Macedo, and the rumors that money had bought him heart and soul, pointed to him as the culprit.

"The Emperor, grief etched on his face, seemed to have aged in a matter of hours. Miraculously he somehow managed to conduct the affairs of state with his ever steady hand. He publicly warned those responsible for the murder of his dearest friend that he would not rest until they were found. Privately he warned those loyal to him to be on their guard."

All I can say to that is... wow. This makes "The Eye of Argon"look like a masterpiece of plotting, dialogue and description. Even most bad fanfic I've seen on fanfiction.net is better than this. We've been reading about this guy for 150 pages, and there's no death scene? No final farewell between Opimius and our boy Atticus? What?

Anyway, Atticus and his dad decide to go to Greece. The End.

This book makes me angry, because really-- the idea of a series about kids in ancient times is a cool one. But it was completely wasted. It only lasted three entries-- and given the quality of writing, I'm not surprised it didn't do well.

Too bad.

I will not recommend this book for a child age 11-13.I found it very boring.It does not flow and capture the interest or imagination. Too many difficult words, and no clues for a child to understand them. I believe some scenes are described with too much explicity (killing of Galerius etc).